8 Linux-based Live CD/DVD and USB Distros For All Occasions

PublicIP Zone, Knoppix, Linux LiveCD Router, Backtrack

June 21, 2010

If you're new to the Linux or open source community, you might not have heard
of live disc or USB distributions yet. They let you run a operating system on
PCs without installing anything on the hard drive. It loads directly from the
CD/DVD disc or USB flash drive. Many full Linux desktop distros, such as
Ubuntu, can be ran in this live mode.
However, there are also live distros created for a wide-variety of other
specific applications and solutions. Here we'll review several of these. Let's
get started!

This turns a PC into a hotspot gateway, helping you offer public wireless
Internet while protecting your private network. The PC you use can be a old,
slow, machine. You just need a minimum 128 MB of RAM, bootable CD-ROM, floppy
drive or USB flash drive, and two Ethernet cards. You will also need at least
one router (wired or wireless) and a wireless access point (or another wireless
router). The Live CD machine will sit between these two components.

You don't need to be a Linux user to configure or manage the system; its
pretty user-friendly. The free service provides all the basic hotspot
functionality: captive portal, content filtering, bandwidth throttling, walled
garden, and firewalling. Premium services give you even more features, such as a
ticketing system, printer support, and captive portal customization.

This turns your computer into a router, firewall, and load balancer. It
requires only 32 MBs of RAM, a CD-ROM drive or USB flash disk, and one or more
Ethernet cards. The free version is command-line based. The professional edition
runs at $149 and includes the GUI or web-based interface, site-to-site VPN, and
more.

If you have a supported Wi-Fi card, you can offer wireless access, turning it
into a wireless router. If you have multiple Internet connections, it can
balance their usage and provides backup in case one line goes down.

The Linux LiveCD Router supports ADSL, cable, 3G, T1, dial-up, and Wi-Fi
Internet connections. It does traffic shaping with its quality of service (QoS)
settings. It also features remote SSH administration and OpenVPN.

BackTrack is a Linux desktop distro dedicated to network security,
penetration testing, and forensics. It comes preloaded with many different
analyzers, scanners, and drivers. You might use it to see how easy it is to
crack WEP or WPA/WAP2-PSK encryption. You could also use it to monitor employees
or find holes in your security perimeter.

Wireshark is included, which is a general purpose network sniffer or analyzer displaying
the raw network packets. Kismet can serve as your wireless network detector and analyzer,
giving you the ability to see the SSID or network name of� "hidden"
networks. Nmap (Network MAPper) can be your security scanner, helping you discover
hosts and services on networks. Ettercap lets you do snooping on many protocols,
for instance, to collect passwords. This is just a few of the tools; there are
many more.

This is actually one of the first live CDs that become available, which is a
Debian-based Linux distribution. It can serve as a general purpose desktop OS on
CD, USB, or installed onto your hard drive. However, it can also serve as a
recovery tool, for example, letting you access drives when Windows is
inaccessible.

Thousands of open source and proprietary applications are included with
Knoppix, more of which are included in the DVD versus the CD version.
OpenOffice.org gives you a comprehensive office suite, compatible with MS
Office. You'll have a web browser, media player, image programs, rescue and
repair utilities, network tools, and much more.